lefthandfree | [meme] open post / picture prompt catch-all

I'm glad you like it.

[ God, what does he do? Drawing attention to it is unnecessary -- Steve's just been trying to treat it as okay, that this is their new equilibrium and it doesn't have to involve the men they used to be. If all that's left are glimpses he can live with it. Love for Bucky is endless, and without condition. And then there's this, and he inhales slowly. ]

Really, Buck.

[His expression softens, and his lips draw to the side in a smirk, familiar but different, real as real can be. He doesn’t want to make a big deal of it. Steve doesn’t seem to want it either. He reminds himself that none of it needs to be perfect. A little goes a long way, and it doesn’t change what any part of it means. Bucky knows how much Steve loves him. He only hopes Steve knows how much he loves him back.]

You’re a blessing, Steve.

[And he leaves it at that.

He leans in to peek through the telescope again. Saturn. The rings are so clear and look like hula hoops of different sizes stacked together. He laughs and wishes he could draw.]

[ His expression softens. ]

You too, pal.

[ It's sincere as it always is, but attention is uncomfortable so Steve quickly switches tracks, ]

I didn't know they built something powerful enough to see Saturn, but T'Challa says you can make out Neptune when it's in the sky. Or -- if you want, in the morning we can go through the Hubble website.

[Bucky beams into the telescope, as if it understands him, and draws back after a few more seconds of admiration.]

Technology’s come a long way. I’m glad.

[That there’s this and not just things like his arm. The world needs more of the good, less of the bad. He just doesn’t know what good is out there anymore, but he's glad Steve knows some of it and can share.]

Assuming I’m not ready to pass out on you, I’ll gladly take you up on that. Hell, even if I have to pass out on you.

[He throws Steve a pleased look and steps away to go check out the fruit punch he’s pretending he’s not dying to have a sip of.]

[ Except his arm is intricate too, articulates like a real one and when he's not being throttled by it he can appreciate its design — not the butchery that sewed it to his friend's body. There had been moments, reading the file, when he'd had to close it and look away at the wall, seeing red at the corners of his vision. Bad enough that this was done to another human being, but to the best and brightest of them — Steve's always been angry. It rears its head and it never sleeps. This world earned nothing else from him. ]

I'd like that. My room?

[The problem with Bucky’s arm is that he knows it’s beautiful but hates its intent. He loves it—loved it—for what it is capable of and can accomplish. Yet, it was made for destruction. The brand on the outside of his arm reminded him daily.

Maybe whenever he gets a new one, he can reclaim its meaning properly. So that he doesn’t regret loving something so magnificent and yet so deadly. But that would take time, something he doesn’t know if he even has much of.]

Yeah. Your room.

[So he can feel like he belongs somewhere. His own room always feels so empty by comparison, even with the few belongings Bucky can say are definitely his.]

I'll hold you to it, Barnes.

[ Making plans. Bucky is one of his anchors in the world and though they'll leave Wakanda at some point things feel normal. Steve stops his fiddling long enough to come over and drape on Bucky's good side as he takes out the bottle he wants. Content to simply be there, listening to his inevitable amusement when it is not only in the curve of his smile, but in his eyes, his shoulders, possessing his whole body. ]

[meme] open post / picture prompt catch-all

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